One of the new things I’ve been trying to learn 220+ days into lockdown, is morse code. I wrote this in my last blog post Learning About the Secret Code Breakers of World War II. You have to understand that being close to two years and for much of it under the roof of my […]
Learning About the Secret Code Breakers of World War 2
One of the new rabbit warrens dives I’m doing to kill a bit of time is learning about the Australian code breakers during World War 2. Now I’m fascinated by stories of the past and recently I had found out that our street was the site of an intercept station in 1942 that played an […]
Lockdown Habits
I’ve lost track how many days we have been in lockdown in total. 208? 210? 220? To be fair, all days run into each other except for my work days which are on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. They bring me a little bit of variety with meetings and colleague catch ups here and there. Work […]
We Need the Social at Work
Last night, my colleagues at Rapid Circle and I took part in a fun online Trivia Night. It’s now been four weeks since our Adopt & Embrace team were acquired by this new company and given that many of us were in lockdown in Melbourne, we were unable to meet each other in person. However, […]
Be Like Eyam
A few days ago we marked the 200th day in lockdown in Melbourne. That’s 200 days over six periods of separate lockdowns not consecutive days. If it was the latter, I would have gone mad already. As it is, I look forward to the days when lockdown ends because it sends me in a frenzy […]
My New Obsession with Orwell
Sometimes I think that school texts are wasted on the young. I remember that many years ago, I read 1984 and Animal Farm which were high school texts and their meaning was totally lost on me. I guess as a young teen, I had other things on my mind that were much closer to home […]
Ideas for How People Care for Themselves
Last week, in a particular down point, I asked the question on how do people manage to stay sane at these times when all we’re hearing on the news is constantly negative? After 200 days of lockdown (over six periods of lockdown), I think many Melbournites like myself have been affected mentally over the uncertainty. […]
Writing French Stories
I am writing short stories using a French picture dictionary for inspiration. For exercise, I flip open the dictionary and look at the pictures and definitions (there’s no English) so then I concoct a story in French using those words. It’s a way to contextualise the vocabulary I’m learning and in my mind’s eye, I […]
Summer Holidays
One of the things I’ve noticed more so this year than I have in any other year is the stark difference in how Europeans have holidays compared to us. I think it’s because I’ve been communicating with a lot more European friends and family recently through language learning apps as well as my Twitter network; […]
Fuck, I’m tired
I know I’m complaining a lot of late. I can’t seem to help myself. I’m just sad. Angry. Frustrated. Happy. Tired. Resigned. Impatient. Blah. Meh. Argh. I know that in light of where Australia is at with its vaccination and hotel quarantine program, added to how every state seems to be doing something different, lockdowns […]
Lockdown 6.0 Part 2
So here we are in lockdown 6.0 Part 2. I say part 2 because it was originally meant to be for one week and it’s been extended to two weeks. This time around, I can’t tell how others are feeling but I have a feeling of resignation on a lot of things. As each lockdown […]
Giving Feedback
Last week, we had Team Week at our company and it’s a chance for us to get together (either physically if there’s no COVID or online, if there is! ?) to discuss different aspects of our work and plan for the quarter ahead. I look forward to these because it’s an opportunity to see the […]
Community Service
I’ve been thinking a lot about community service as it’s something that I have missed recently in my life. After many years in the military (you may not be aware that I served as an officer in the Royal Australian Navy (in the category of Education Specialist) for 10 years followed by a further 11 […]
On Reading & Writing
I had to save this excerpt from Barry Lopez, About This Life which was shared by Robert McFarlane on Twitter recently. Just read it, it’s beautiful.
What Did You Miss in July?
It’s been a relatively quiet month because methinks it was the lockdown that really got me down….again. So I wasn’t my usual chirpy self. Most of the time, I just wanted to throttle stupidity I saw on Twitter and on television so I decided to vent my anger by starting a Covid Art Diary where […]
From Training to Learning to Knowledge to What?
(This is a collection of rambled thoughts – I’m still formulating what the question is in my mind so please humour me and go with the flow. I will find my way soon). I’ve been working on some interesting projects at Adopt & Embrace, a Microsoft Partner and where I work three days a week […]
Be Continuously Surprised
I’ve been reading Martin Amis new book called Inside Story which he calls a novel. I’ll do a video review on it once I finish but so far, all I can say is that the writing is beautiful. It’s as if I’m catching glimpses of his life and in particular, the moments he shared with […]
Life, Interrupted
I’m sitting here in a park bench looking out at the green, uneven and unkempt football ground. Grass has grown in patches not having been mowed or even had the trampling of young footballers enjoying a weekend game. It strikes me how much our lives have changed since the pandemic started and thrown into turmoil […]
How to Spot a Fascist – Becoming Politically Engaged
I had an interesting Twitter conversation with my friend @dangerousmere recently about politics and it got me thinking. Usually in Australia, speaking about sex, politics and religion is considered taboo. There’s a fine line where people tend to keep such thoughts to themselves preferring less volatile subjects for fear of creating conflict and tension. As […]
Lockdown 5.0
It is now like a stale old joke that you’ve heard countless times before. Victoria – Melbourne and it’s regions are in a full lockdown for the next 5 days (possibly longer if we don’t control the Delta variant that is making its way through the community). The virus was brought in by a couple […]